Category Archives: Blog-Love

A sentiment I totally agree with! 🙂 But why have I posted this? Well, my girlfriend saw a blog post (via Facebook) that a legend of the South African music scene, Koos Kombuis, posted yesterday. Not only does he talk about SF and even Star Wars but he talks about some other very interesting topics and is well worth a read. 🙂 Here’s the link.

Angry Robot has revealed the artwork that’ll be gracing the cover of Ian Whates’ City of Hope and Despair, and it’s quietly, stunningly beautiful – see it for yourself here.

Paul Kemp has posted an very short but cool excerpt of the sequel to his first Star Wars novel, Crosscurrent – Riptide – can’t wait for this novel! 🙂 Check it out here.

Keeping with Star Wars news: years ago James Luceno (read Cloak of Deception – an excellent Star Wars thriller that kicks The Phantom Menace’s behind) was tapped to write the novel that would flesh out Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, but the novel was cancelled. Well, not anymore! 🙂 Check out the news here at Club Jade. Also at Club Jade, the news broke that there would be no sequel to Karen Traviss’ Imperial Commando novel – something I’m very happy about, but because I wanted it to be written by Karen and not taken over by someone else; Karen wrote some incredible books in the Expanded Universe and was forced to leave the Star Wars stable after the Mandalorians were morphed into peace-loving slightly-militant Alderaanians. Anyway, will rant about this some other time. Maybe. Here’s the link.

… and hell, what a catch-up! For about two weeks I just couldn’t get into Google Reader to check out the daily stuff from all the blogs I follow, but this morning everything was fine again, and I had over a thousand posts to look through; thank goodness today is my day off from work, huh? 🙂

Anyway, here’s a run-down of some of the most interesting stuff I saw:

Aidan (A Dribble of Ink): The ‘A Game of Thrones’ RTS / RPG, Genesis, has been officially announced and, from the info Aidan has provided, it sounds really cool! There’ll probably even be some room to play the game so that you control the outcome – maybe Ned Stark won’t have to go to King’s Landing when you tackle the game, huh? 😉

Also, Aidan has posted the cover art for the following:

The eBook cover for the tenth book in the Wheel of Time, Crossroads of Twilight (a very simple yet arresting image, I dig it!),

The UK cover for Joe Abercrombie’s next novel, The Heroes (very much along the same lines that were used to create the covers for his previous novels, and that’s a good thing in my opinion),

and the Limited Edition cover for China Mieville’s Kraken (don’t know if I like it, puts me too much in mind of a certain Jules Verne adventure, but that’s just me).

Angry Robot Books: The cover art for Aliette de Bodard’s second novel (and sequel to the excellent Servant of the Underworld) has been unveiled, and it’s pretty damn cool. 🙂 The cover was designed by Gav Krasner (which leads me to believe that all the Gav’s out there should, in some way, be involved in SFF). 🙂

Also, the first Angry Robot Podcast is up! I listened to it twice this morning and it’s great to hear Marco and Lee’s voices, finally. 🙂 They talk about all things Angry Robot and also tackle eBooks and SFF sections in bookshops, along with much more! You can also enter a competition to win a limited edition hardcover copy of Lauren Beukes’ excellent Zoo City!

Mark Chitty (Walker of Worlds) has been blogging for 3 years now! Let’s help him celebrate! And keep it coming, Mark! 🙂 If you want the best SFF blog out there, Mark’s is it, no doubt about that!

Orbit has announced the schedule for their authors at ComicCon (man, I would absolutely love to go, but then I couldn’t eat or do much of anything else for the next four years because I wouldn’t have the money!).

Amanda (from Floor to Ceiling Books) asks how she should be punished for breaking her Book-Buying Embargo – I don’t think she should be punished at all, though! Hell, the more books that sell, the more books our favourite authors can write, right? 🙂 Round of applause for her – some really cool purchases! 🙂

Sad news from Paul Kemp (but understandable: he just writes them, after all): his much-anticipated The Old Republic tie-in novel, Deceived, has been moved from a December release-date to March 2011. The reasoning behind the move is sound, but I can’t help wondering why the decision wasn’t taken much earlier – Deceived is, after all, a tie-in novel to BioWare’s The Old Republic game… Ah well, we’ll just have to be a bit more patient! 🙂

John asked a couple of bloggers to share their ‘Introductions’ and I offered my thoughts; mine is the last of the bunch, but do read the entire post – many of the best bloggers / reviewers in the blogosphere offered their thoughts, too. 🙂

Everybody should know who John Ottinger III is, and if you don’t, then you’re either a newbie to this whole blogging thing or you run a non-SFF blog; you may be forgiven (emphasis on ‘may’) if you spread the word of what he’s done (and continues to do). 🙂

For example, the SF / F / H Reviewer Link Up Meme, 2nd Edition. John set up a database of most (if not all) of the SFF / H blogs out there, inculding some non-english blogs, so there’s no excuse when you’re bored – if you’re looking for blogs that focus on SF, check the list; want fantasy (epic, heroic, etc), check the list; urban fantasy? Yep, they’re all there too. And much more besides! 🙂

When you’ve decided to put this list on your own blog, visit John’s new-look Grasping for the Wind blog (with the link above) and follow the instructions. 🙂 Here’s the list for your viewing pleasure!

“It’s about damn time!” I hear you shouting. 🙂 Yep, that it most definitely is! 🙂 A round of applause for John over at Grasping for the Wind please! For those of you who have absolutely no idea who I’m talking about, here’s the low-down:

A while ago, while this very blog you’re reading looked a bit (okay, a lot) different and the brunt of the world-wide recession had not yet hit, John created a review-blogger link-up meme that took the blogosphere by storm. This meme raged through blogs that reviewed Speculative Fiction (yes, the range was that wide), and pretty soon, the list had gotten so big that you would need to take a few days off work to go through them. 🙂 I was lucky enough to have been a part of that meme, and then this meme also became something else – a song, written and performed by another awesome John (follow the link and have a listen, you’ll love it!) that was probably one of the coolest things ever to hit the blogosphere. 🙂

Now, how’s that?! 🙂 Awesome, John, absolutely awesome! 🙂 So, have you downloaded the song? You have? Cool, start playing it then, and then click this link – it’ll take you to The Crotchety Old Fan, and the Interactive Version. 🙂 So as you listen to the song, you can click through and have a look at the blogs at the same time. But have your fastest finger ready! 🙂

Okay, next up, vote for your favourite Fantasy Books! 🙂 This is an awesome initiative given life by Jo and Bella! Not only will the 101 Fantasy Books be decided by those who read and love them (YOU), but there’s also a chance to WIN! So, head on over and vote!

One last thing (I know this is a huge post, without a doubt the biggest ever on this blog), but this was just too cool to pass up – Jo and Bella have set up a cool meme, so I’m doing my bit to get it spread around:

1. What is your favourite favourite fantasy series?

Yikes – okay, let’s put it this way: Whoever wins the duel between Rand and Quick Ben will decide which series is the best. 🙂

2. What is your favourite fantasy character?

Also a difficult one… I’ll have to settle for a top 3: In no particular order, Anomander Rake, Mat Cauthon, Thomas Cale. 🙂 Anomander is the epitome of absolute badassness, Mat is either the guy with the worst luck or the best luck, and Thomas Cale is absolutely deadly and terrifying, but so sadly clueless (through no fault of his own).

3. What is your favourite fantasy creature?

Probably a Fade (being able to see like a hawk without having to bother with eyes and being able to travel through shadows) but then again, Erikson’s dragons are sooo cool! 🙂

4. What is your favourite fantasy world?

Hands down, this would the world that Steven Erikson and Ian C Esslemont have created – I’ve never gotten such a sense of deep history from any other fiction I’ve ever read, amazing stuff!

5. What is your favourite fantasy “magic” (i.e. The Will and the Word in David Eddings’ Belgariad series)?

Wielding the One Power, Saidin. 🙂 Without the Taint, of course!

There we go – if you want to participate in the meme, follow this link and read the instructions. 🙂

Okay, that’s it for me fore today – I’m struggling to decide between posting my review of Godspeaker Bk 2: The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller or District 9; what do you think? 🙂

One of Peter V Brett’s friends, Matt, has taken over Peat’s Peaphole (the blog, what were you thinking?) and has posted a new, excellent contest – time to get your casting calls in! 🙂 I’ll be entering, too, of course… 🙂

Adam over at The Wertzone gave us a very interesting post on Dune and what’s been happening in Frank Herbert’s universe since his death – well worth a read!

Wanna check out Path of the Warrior? Must be one of the most bad-ass Warhammer 40K covers I’ve seen in a while! 🙂 Oh, and it’s Gav Thorpe’s (also now one of Angry Robot’s new authors) latest novel for Black Library. 🙂

Ok, now we get to the major news – and sad news, in my opinion. Karen Traviss has quit Star Wars. I’m not surprised, I think it’s been coming for a while now, but it’s still a sad turn of events. I’ve rarely enjoyed the Star Wars EU as much as when reading Karen’s work in it, and though I understand the other side’s arguments against her, I’ve always felt that Star Wars needed something new (or a whole lotof new things) to get it going again. Karen showed us some of those new aspects, updating Star Wars for these new times. And don’t get me wrong, I adore the movies, and no EU novel will ever top them (no, not even The New Jedi Order or The Thrawn Trilogy) but you can bet your ass that the more things stay the same, the more they stagnate.

I remember first finding out about why the Bantam era ended, and thought, “Whoa, but that was Star Wars.” Sure, every other book had a superweapon in it, but superweapons are part of Star Wars! So then we get into The New Jedi Order, taking Star Wars into a darker, grimmer, more realistic direction, opening up the opportunities for even more tales and wonderful characters. Enter Karen Traviss – she does this, and get’s crucified for it. She took Boba Fett, one the coolest characters in Star Wars, gave him depth, emotion, a voice, and made him so much more than the dude the Sarlacc ate, and get’s crucified. We got what we wanted – Star wars changed to suit the times, and we were ungrateful. Ah well.

Hey Guys and Girls, starting off a new feature here on the blog! 🙂 Well, not new, exactly, but a new way of doing things. 🙂 From now on, every Monday (instead of the usual once-a-month on the first of said month) I’ll be giving you guys a round-up of links and news of the preceding weeks – just in case we missed something. 🙂

I was getting a bit bored with the once-a-month thing and there was always news that popped up that I didn’t want to have to wait until the 1st of the following month to post -which invariably happened, thereby buggering up any schedule I was trying to get going! 🙂 So, once a week we’ll have a look back at (what I consider to be) that week (or those past weeks) most interesting news. 🙂

So, let’s get going!

First off, from A Dribble of Ink, some great casting news: Sean Bean is Eddard Stark! For that, and a whole bunch more, check out this link; also, Adian also gave us details on Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings. 🙂

David Anthony Durham was sent the completed cover of the new Wild Cards anthology, but none other than GRRM himself – in case you missed it, David will be writing a Wild Cards story for a forthcoming anthology, and yes, he’s got GRRMs email address too (and no, I haven’t been able to bribe David yet, but I’m trying!!). 🙂

Karen Traviss reminded us that her second Gears of War novel, Jacinto’s Remnant, is about to be published (I for one can’t wait – Karen is incredible and you just know this book is going to be badass!)!

Over at My Favourite Books, Mark reviewed the entire The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, Liz finally read and reviewed A Madness of Angels (if you haven’t read it yet, read it! It’s incredible!), and they’re also hosting a giveaway of Nick Kyme’s Warhammer 40K book, Salamander! 🙂

Peter V Brett made me jealous when he mentioned meeting Milla Jovovich…. but I felt better after he explained that he met her while having a meeting with director Paul Anderson – the man who will be at the helm of the live-action The Painted Man / The Warded Man!